Wrangling continues over coal plant

ST. LOUIS -- The Energy Department unveiled its blueprint Wednesday for spending up to $1.3 billion on multiple clean-coal power plants that would capture carbon emissions and permanently store them underground.

The announcement, launching two weeks of public comment over the revised plan for the project known as FutureGen, came despite pledges by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois to scuttle the effort. The Democrat stands convinced a downstate town deserved the project -- all of it.

FutureGen's developers -- an alliance of a dozen big power and coal companies -- tapped Mattoon as the site in December. But the Energy Department quickly pulled the plug, citing costs that had ballooned to $1.8 billion, nearly double the original price tag.

The department considers it smarter to spread the taxpayer money around to several smaller projects throughout the U.S. On Wednesday, Bud Albright, an undersecretary for the department, said Mattoon is out of the picture unless a developer wants to build a power plant there, then apply to partner with the Energy Department.

"The direction we're going -- let me make absolutely clear if there's any question -- we're fully committed to. We think it's a better direction," he told reporters during a conference call.

Durbin said Wednesday evening that the new plan was unworkable and cannot be taken seriously.

"They wouldn't even receive applications from the new sites until four weeks before the current administration ends," he said in a telephone interview. "It isn't a serious plan -- it's merely a mask for their embarrassment." Durbin said Wednesday evening that the new plan was unworkable and cannot be taken seriously.

"They wouldn't even receive applications from the new sites until four weeks before the current administration ends," he said in a telephone interview. "It isn't a serious plan -- it's merely a mask for their embarrassment."